Smoke and Mirrors
by stress
Summary: A collection of 100 word drabbles written about Harper's Island, using the alphabet, A-Z. Features all characters; based on prompts. May contain spoilers for the whole series. COMPLETE.
1. alone: illusions, shattered

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone." – Orson Welles

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**title**: _illusions, shattered_  
**prompt**: **A**; _alone_  
**featuring**: Sully  
**set**: during episode 13, "sigh"

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He remembers how they met in junior high.

Christopher Sullivan, forever a joker and a flirt, had hit on the wrong girl. Her boyfriend was angry and only Henry Dunn's quick thinking saved him from losing a lopsided fight. Sully was grateful, and Henry had his first best friend from the mainland.

They did everything together, from ding-dong-ditch to double-dates with Trish Wellington and Sully's ever-changing girlfriends. They went to college together, and it was Sully who Henry asked to be his best man.

And, though Henry is there, easily confessing his actions, Sully realizes he's never been more alone.

_

* * *

_

Author's Note_: With NaNoWriMo coming up in November, I'll most likely be putting most of my chaptered fics on hiature -- I never mean to intentionally, it just sorta happens. But, as a writing exercise where every word counts, I want to write a series of drabbles for HI (and Newsies, probably). I'm going to go through the alphabet, 26 letters and 26 100 word drabbles. I'm accepting prompts and character requests so, if you have any, let me know. I hope you guys like these ;)_

_-- stress, 10.21.09_


	2. blind: ignorance is bliss

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." – Edward R. Murrow

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**title**: _ignorance is bliss  
_**prompt**: **B**; _blind_  
**featuring**: Shea  
**set**: pre-series

--

She sees him out the corner of her eye, jumpy and antsy yet inexplicably distant. He shrugs off her concerns so she switches from caring wife back to doting mother.

They are both roles she was born to play.

The phone rings, and he seems relieved for the interruption. The exchange is quick, his rehearsed explanation after even quicker.

She doesn't ask why her stepmother is calling him, or why Richard is so willing to respond to Katherine's back and call. Instead, she smiles her prim accepting smile and kisses her husband goodbye.

Madison wonders but Shea simply hushes her.


	3. company: if only

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Lovers embrace that which is between them rather than each other." – Kahlil Gibran

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**title**: _if only  
_**prompt**: **C**; _company_  
**featuring**: Jimmy  
**set**: during episode 4, "bang"

--

It seemed odd to him, turning in so early when all that awaited him tomorrow morning was the wind, waves and the fish of another day, but what could he do? Charlie still had Shane locked up, and the Cannery was booked for Henry's bachelor party.

He half wanted to crash it before realizing that Abby wouldn't be there. So he went home instead and spent his evening with a cheesy B movie and thoughts of _if only_.

Until there came an insistent knock at the door.

Jimmy glanced at the clock.

Company at this hour… who could that be?


	4. desperation: the raven's flight

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape." – William S. Burroughs

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**title**: _the raven's flight  
_**prompt**: **D**; _desperation_  
**featuring**: J.D.  
**set**: during episode 8, "gurgle"

--

Through the darkness he runs, arms pumping, dark hair whipping, eyes wide and watching for the demons that haunt him. He can't outrun them. He couldn't even hide from them. They found him in the jail cells, behind bars where he should've been safe.

Was he ever safe?

His heart beating, his chest tightening, and he flies toward sanctuary. The docks are up ahead. There's a boat and a way off this godforsaken place. He can't save anyone if he doesn't save himself.

"J.D.?"

He hears the familiar voice and stumbles, aware.

In the end he never had a chance.


	5. escape: heavy chains

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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""Slaves lose everything in their chains, even the desire of escaping from them." – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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**title**: _heavy chains  
_**prompt**: **E**; _escape_  
**featuring**: Abby  
**set**: post-series

--

She sees them in her dreams; the faces are even more terrible when she's awake. They follow her everywhere: to work, to the store, even home to her cat. Grotesque, twisted in fear and twisted in undeserved death, they're there and nothing she can do will make them go away.

She hears them. Pleading, crying. Screaming, dying. They ask for her help, enraged when she can only deny it.

It's your fault, the ghosts accuse. You're to blame, they hiss. I'm dead because of _you_.

And Abby, so weighed down and buried by her severe survivor's guilt, can only agree.


	6. forever: fooled heart

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"It's only forever, not long at all…" – David Bowie, Underground (_Labyrinth)_

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**title**: _fooled heart  
_**prompt**: **F**; _forever_  
**featuring**: Henry  
**set**: during episode 13, "sigh"

--

Henry Dunn first decided he was in love with Abby Mills the summer when he was ten years old.

Abby's mom had made them both ice cream cones, chocolate with extra sprinkles. But Henry's scoop was too big and it tumbled to the dirt. When Abby sacrificed hers so that he could have a treat, Henry knew he would love her forever.

Later, as Abby whispered her secret wish into his ear, he knew that she would love him forever, too.

But now, dying by her hand, he suddenly understands what he's always denied:

Forever was never meant to last.


	7. guilty: never meant to

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness." – Victor Hugo

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**title**: _never meant to  
_**prompt**: **G**; _guilty_  
**featuring**: Kelly  
**set**: pre-series

--

Kelly still remembers the last thing she said to her. In the heat of the moment, and not meaning a word of it, she said three words she could never take back.

_I hate you._

It was over something so stupid. Shane Pierce was coming around but Mrs. Seaver wanted Kelly to stay away. A reasonable request, but Kelly wasn't looking for reason. So she pouted and she whined and she ran to her room while her mother left for work.

Kelly never saw her alive again.

And she wonders even now: why couldn't John Wakefield have killed her instead?


	8. hero: save her, not me

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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**title**: _save her (not me)  
_**prompt**: **H**; _hero_  
**featuring**: Cal  
**set**: during episode 11, "splash"

--

Cal Vandeusen never was the brave knight in shining armor type. Give him a good book or a crossword puzzle and he could astound you; hand him a gun and it was a lucky guess if he pointed it the right way.

But love does amazing things, terror even more so. John Wakefield was chasing him, he could feel death closely behind, but still he thought:

_Chloe must get away_.

So he stood in front of the monster, shielding his princess, knowing it was his last stand. But, if it bought Chloe enough time to escape, it was worth it.


	9. imaginary: play with me

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"These are facts, these are not imaginary things." – Iyad Allawi

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**title**: _play with me  
_**prompt**: **I**; _imaginary_  
**featuring**: Madison  
**set**: during the first few episodes

--

She tried to tell her mother but she was too busy helping Aunt Trish with the wedding. So she went looking for her father.

She tried to tell Daddy but he was too busy spending time with Grandpa's new wife to listen to what she wanted to tell him. So she went looking for her grandfather.

Grandpa seemed lonely without Katherine so she decided to play a game with him first. Later, she tried to tell him, but Grandpa told her about all the imaginary friends he had as a boy.

But Madison had a secret.

John Wakefield wasn't imaginary.


	10. jealousy: burnt by hate

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves." – William Penn, _Some Fruits of Solitude_, 1693

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**title**: _burnt by hate  
_**prompt**: **J**; _jealousy  
_**featuring**: Shane  
**set**: during episode 9, "seep"

--

He hates her.

He hates what she did to him, how she reduced him to a pile of anger and repression when she left. He hates how she's always on his mind, how a teenage romance is more important to Jimmy than a lifelong friendship.

He hates how, no matter what he does, Jimmy still loves her.

And he hates that, after seven years, Abby Mills has come back—and she's brought death to them all.

With a dark scowl and jealousy in his eyes, he won't let her back in the Candlewick.

Never.

Shane Pierce can be very possessive.


	11. killer: tit for tat

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not." – Oscar Wilde

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**title: **_tit for tat  
_**prompt**: **K**; _killer  
_**featuring**: Wakefield  
**set**: pre-series

--

John Wakefield wasn't a born killer. He was a good man once—and then he met Sarah.

He loved her with all his heart, but his devotion meant nothing to her in the end. She ripped out his heart when she left, and trampled it when she gave away their child.

_His son_.

Wakefield was dead the first time he went to Harper's Island, and he was dead all those long, wrong years in prison. He was dead when he went back. He was a dead man when he strung Sarah up and watched her die.

It was only fair.

* * *

Author's Note: _Thanks to imhappyboy for the prompt about using K for Killer and Wakefield. Now that it's December and NaNoWriMo is over, I plan on getting back to all of my writing -- but I'm still working on these drabbles. Thank you to everyone who's been reading these so far. I love hearing what you think about this little drabbles :)_

_-- stress, 12.02.09_


	12. loyalty: stand by you

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"He who does not feel his friends to be the world to him, does not deserve that the world should hear of him." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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**title: **_stand by you  
_**prompt**: **L**; _loyalty  
_**featuring**: Danny  
**set**: during episode 8, "gurgle"

--

Danny Brooks was pretty genre savvy. He'd seen enough Scooby Doo to know it was never smart to split up, and countless horror movies showed it was bad luck to be the token black guy.

Prayer seemed like a good option and the gun in his hand certainly made him feel better about his odds. There was a group of them against Wakefield's one—even if Wakefield's crazy made him more.

Still, when Henry needed someone to venture outside with him, Danny knew he had to go too. Crazy killer on the loose or not, friends needed to stick together.


	13. missing: rumors

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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**title**: _rumors  
_**prompt**: **M**; _missing  
_**featuring**: Lucy  
**set**: during episode 3, "ka-blam"

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"Hey, Chloe, have you seen Lucy? I can't find her anywhere."

"Didn't she leave already?"

"What do you mean?"

"I heard this morning that she had to leave after the bonfire last night, something about heading back to Seattle to meet up with her boyfriend."

Beth bit her lip, feeling worried though she couldn't really explain why. "I can't believe Lucy would just leave like that, without saying goodbye." She paused. "Did she tell you?"

"No, Trish."

"Trish told you?"

Chloe shook her blonde head. "Actually, I heard it from Henry."

"Oh… okay. I guess I'll just call her later."


	14. naked: bare my body, not my soul

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"I wasn't really naked. I simply didn't have any clothes on." – Josephine Baker

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**title**: _bare my body (not my soul)  
_**prompt**: **N**; _naked  
_**featuring**: Trish  
**set**: during episode 4, "bang"

--

Maybe it was her own insecurities, her guilt at keeping Hunter's reappearance a secret, or maybe she just wanted to remind Henry what he had—what he was going to have forever come Saturday, she told herself sternly—before she sent him off to his bachelor party… whatever it was, Trish couldn't help herself.

She let her robe fall wordlessly to the floor, baring her body to her fiancé in a way she couldn't share with him the truth. It made her feel beautiful, it made her feel wanted.

It made her forget anyone else existed but her and Henry.


	15. old: he looks back

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"In youth we run into difficulties; in old age difficulties run into us." – Josh Billings

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**title**:_ he looks back  
_**prompt**: **O**; _old  
_**featuring**: Charlie  
**set**: during episode 10, "snap"

--

A man can age a lifetime in days. Not in looks, though Charlie didn't remember being so grey, and not the number, either—but in experience. Experiences like his could cause any man to walk with a stoop, old and broken and alone.

In one day he watched the marina explode and witnessed his dead wife being cut down from a tree. He sent his daughter away a few days later—days that felt like years.

Seven long years went by—seven centuries.

But Charlie Mills never felt so old as when the past finally caught up to him.

_Wakefield_…


	16. panic: three minus two

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear." – H.P. Lovecraft

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**title**:_ three minus two  
_**prompt**: **P**; _panic  
_**featuring**: Beth  
**set**: during episode 9, "seep"

--

Still wondering if she should have escaped, Beth gnawed nervously on her thumbnail, sick with fright. The kitchen seemed as safe a place as any, and she had Sully and Danny with her. Safety in numbers—

—until three became one when a commotion drew the boys out into the lobby. Beth half wanted to run after them, to attach herself to someone else's side… but she didn't. Her heart beating a frantic thump-thump-_thump_, her stomach tied in knots, she stayed where she was, waiting.

She was still waiting, still terrified, when the scarred old hand clapped itself over her mouth.

* * *

Author's Note: _The idea for this drabble came from Miwako1 who wanted to see Beth's reaction when Wakefield took her from the kitchen. I didn't have enough words to delve deeper but can you imagine how panicked she must've been at that moment? Wow._


	17. quiet: lost in thought

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"A hundred wagon loads of thoughts will not pay a single ounce of debt." – an Italian Proverb

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**title**:_ lost in thought  
_**prompt**: **Q**; _quiet  
_**featuring**: Katherine  
**set**: during episode 9, "seep"

--

Katherine Wellington was lost in her thoughts, weighed down by grief. First Thomas, then Richard, now this? Since the affair had come to light, she knew Shea would never believe her, but she was worried sick. What sort of madman went after an innocent child?

She saw the way the others looked at her, the other woman, the gold digger. If only they knew… but they didn't, and she wasn't about to tell them. So she left them alone, sitting in her chair in silence.

But not so quiet that she heard Henry's footsteps from behind her.

She never did.


	18. regret: the root of evil

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." – Harriet Beecher Stowe

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**title**:_ the root of evil  
_**prompt**: **R**; _regret  
_**featuring**: Malcolm  
**set**: during episode 4, "bang"

--

Malcolm never thought anything would come between him and his friends. Henry, Sully, Danny, Booth… they were his friends, his _brothers_, and he would've done anything for them—

—and then they found that bag of money.

He didn't know what came over him. Dirt under his fingernails, tearstains running down his cheeks, his arms aching from digging a hole deep enough to bury Booth—his friend, but never his guilt—Malcolm would've given every cent he had to bring his friend back from the grave.

But he couldn't, so, hating himself, he took the money with him when he left.


	19. sure: you can't have me

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go." – Tennessee Williams

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**title**: _you can't have me  
_**prompt**: **S**; _sure  
_**featuring**: Chloe  
**set**: during episode 11, "splash"

--

She was numb, unfeeling. Her heart was wrenched out of her chest and thrown over the side of the bridge; the splash was an echo to the sound of the raging waters swallowing up Cal's fallen body.

John Wakefield was still there.

It wouldn't be suicide. It wasn't giving up _or_ giving in. It was just doing what she had to in order to follow after her little Englishman. As simple as that.

Besides, she'd be damned if she gave that maniac the satisfaction of killing her first…

Chloe braced herself for the fall before denying Wakefield what he wanted.


	20. trust: give me a reason

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Who would not rather trust and be deceived?" – Eliza Cook

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**title**: _give me a reason  
_**prompt**: **T**; _trust  
_**featuring**: Abby  
**set**: during episode 12, "gasp"

--

Emotions were running high, a scary sort of relief that couldn't hide the familiar fear. There had been talk, whispers of an accomplice, and Abby didn't want to believe that it could be Jimmy… but where _was_ Trish? And why was Jimmy acting this way?

Henry was wound up, tensed and poised to snap. It wasn't smart for him to hear his fiancée was gone when a loaded gun was in his hand. He threatened to shoot for an answer but she moved first.

Abby was staring down the barrel of the shotgun but she wasn't afraid.

She trusted Henry.


	21. under: going under

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Drink does not drown care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster." – Benjamin Franklin

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**title**: _going under  
_**prompt**: **U**; _under  
_**featuring**: Trish  
**set**: during episode 4, "bang"

--

Trish Wellington wasn't a very big drinker but, well, you only got married once.

Besides, Trish needed to drink that night if only to forget that Katherine was standing where her mother should've been. The alcohol worked, too—it made her numb but it also made her reckless. She barely remembered deciding to take a swim in the pool.

Feeling giddy, feeling scared, feeling alone, Trish let the water swallow her up. It was refreshing. She went under, reveling in the sensation of a wet embrace.

She never expected that, when she wanted to resurface again, it would be impossible.


	22. view: the last thing I see

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying." – Jean Paul Richter

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**title**: the last thing I see_  
_**prompt**: **V**; _view  
_**featuring**: Henry  
**set**: during episode 13, "sigh"

--

As surprise gave way to betrayal gave way to _pain_, Henry had one jarring thought: this wasn't the way it was supposed to happen.

There was supposed to be a happily-ever-after, the fated lovers living together in peace and solitude. He was supposed to whisk her away from everyone and everything, and she was supposed to be grateful.

She wasn't supposed to stab him like that.

Before he succumbed, before his eyes closed at last and he slumped forward into the water, Henry took one last look at his twin loves: Abby Mills and Harper's Island.

What a wonderful view.

* * *

Author's Note: _I hope to have the last four of these drabbles -- I've been aiming for a full 26, a-z -- out fairly soon. I'm finishing up w, I have y done and, yeah, I'm a little stuck on x. After I complete them, though, I will have another chapter of my neglected Henry epic, Inside a Broken Mind. I've gotten a good part of that done so that should be ready in the not too distant future, in case anyone was still interested ;)_

_-- stress, 02.28.10_


	23. why: aftermath

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and die." – Alfred Lord Tennyson

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**title**: _aftermath  
_**prompt**: **W**; _why  
_**featuring**: Jimmy  
**set**: post-series

--

It's over now. Wakefield's dead, Henry's dead, _everyone's _dead. But not him.

Jimmy's alive even if he doesn't understand how—or why.

Why didn't Wakefield leave him to drown? Why didn't Henry kill him when he had the chance? Why did Shane have to die, Nikki have to die, _everyone_ have to die and he got to survive?

The thoughts haunt him, the maybes and could-have-beens follow him, he pretends for Abby's sake that he deserves his survival, but he's trapped, one word on repeat, again and again.

Why?

It's over now, but he feels like it's only just begun.


	24. xylography: shane was here

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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""The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example." – Benjamin Disraeli

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**title**: _shane was here  
_**prompt**: **X**;_ xylography  
_**featuring**: Shane  
**set**: during episode nine, "seep"

--

He needed something to do with his hands, or maybe his nerves worked differently than everyone else's. He didn't panic yet—but he did start to carve his name into the bar top.

The thing was, if things didn't work out the way he planned, if he didn't get out of there alive, apart from having his ghost kick Jimmy's ass for keeping him on this hellhole island, at least anyone who came in after would've known he'd been there, too.

Besides, Maggie looked pretty pissed off. As far as Shane was concerned, that was all the motivation he needed.

* * *

Author's Note:_ I never realized how few words actually began with the letter x. In the end I settled on xylography, or the art of engraving wood. Shane carving his name into the Candlewick Inn's bar counts as art, right? :)_

_-- stress, 03.03.10_


	25. yesterday: who we were

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then." – Lewis Carroll

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**title**: _who we were  
_**prompt**: **Y**;_ yesterday  
_**featuring**: Sully  
**set**: during episode 13, "sigh"

--

It's amazing how quickly things can change. How quickly a _what if_ scenario turns into a man's life story, and a flippant remark—_Grow a pair!—_becomes a slur against one of your closest pals.

It's amazing how quickly something as simple as seeing two rounds nestled in an open palm could make you realize how different today was from yesterday. How everything you thought you knew was wrong, how everything you were understanding now couldn't be right.

Sully wished that it was yesterday again.

Yesterday, Christopher Sullivan and Henry Dunn were best friends.

Yesterday, Henry Dunn wasn't a murderer.


	26. zeal: a man's gotta do

Disclaimer: _The characters in this story are the property of CBS and are only used for fan related purposes. _

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

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"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do,  
don't plan the plan if you can't follow through,  
all that matters taking matters into your own hands."  
– Neil Patrick Harris, A Man's Gotta Do (_Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog_)

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**title**: _a man's gotta do  
_**prompt**: **Z**;_ zeal  
_**featuring**: Wakefield  
**set**: pre-series

--

John Wakefield was a focused man, intent on revenge and the satisfaction of the kill. With every bit of who he was and he could've been if Sarah had made the right choice, he was determined to make his way back to Harper's Island and finish what he started seven years ago.

He was determined to have his family, no matter what. His need to do right by Henry was only surpassed by his desire to watch his enemies burn.

First Sarah, then Charlie and, lastly, Abby. One by one, and damn anyone else who got in a Wakefield's way.

* * *

Author's Note: _Well, that's the last of the 26 prompts, A-Z. I thought it fitting to end at the beginning, and to use the last few chapters to give some of my favorite characters another peek. I had a great time practicing the technique of saying more in fewer words and, maybe, I might want to start a whole other set. Maybe Henry-centric? I need to get back into his head before I tackle _Inside a Broken Mind _again. Anywho, let me know what you think about that :) And, of course, thank you so much for the reads, reviews and thoughts during these 26 drabbles!_

_-- stress, 03.14.10_


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